Number of child sex abuse sites quadruples

THE number of web pages identified by Australian authorities as containing child sex abuse material has quadrupled since 2006.

There was a 20 per cent rise in such pages detected in 2012 alone, they say.

Yet online child pornography remains accessible to Australian pedophiles, in part because of the nation's light-handed approach to internet censorship.

Senior federal detectives say an increasing number of child sex abuse websites are being created, mostly overseas, by highly-organised networks using rapidly-evolving technology aimed at protecting their anonymity.

Figures show that in 2006 the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) asked internet filter companies to remove from view 303 overseas-hosted child sex abuse web pages and nine originating in Australia.

The total shot up to 1042 pages in 2011 and 1286 in 2012.

The cases include a small but significant number of pages offering pedophiles tips on how to avoid detection.

But the many internet users who don't voluntarily use family-friendly filters (including pedophiles) can still access abuse websites.

While Australian authorities don't have absolute power to block overseas-hosted web pages, the federal government reached an agreement in November with some service providers who volunteered to block 1432 websites contained on an Interpol "worst of the worst" blacklist.

The deal came after Labor abandoned plans to introduce a mandatory, blanket internet filter which would have seen access to many abuse websites blocked overnight.

The plans were ditched after claims, including from the opposition, that a blanket filter would be bad for freedom and freedom of speech.

Larger ISPs, including Telstra and Optus, agreed to block the Interpol-listed sites in 2010.

It remains unclear how quickly small to medium-sized ISPs have responded to Labor's agreement, though the AFP says it is still working with companies on the issue.

It is understood some of the blacklisted websites remain accessible to some internet users in Australia.

The Australian Federal Police say the number of child abuse websites has grown since 2006, driven by demand from pedophiles who "compulsively collect child exploitation material".

More of these sites are being discovered by law enforcement agencies in Australia and overseas.

AFP Detective Superintendent Todd Hunter said: "The AFP's experience is that there appears to be an increase in websites with child exploitation material (CEM) being published.

"This is why more websites with CEM are being identified by law enforcement."

As evidence of the growth, Det Sup Hunter pointed to the number of websites on Interpol's blacklist, many of which show children aged 13 or younger, and which more than trebled from 409 in 2011 to 1432 in December 2012.

"This increase can be attributed to the ever-evolving sophistication of child exploitation networks and technologies, combined with the increase in data storage capability, anonymity, global reach and accessibility of the internet," he added.

Because many of the abuse websites visible in Australia originate overseas it falls on police in those jurisdictions to investigate and shut them down.

Mostly they are successful.

But the websites sometimes quickly reappear using different URL addresses and names.

Websites subjected to filter requests in Australia recently include one, reported to Australian Federal Police (AFP) on October 30, 2012, which acted as a "paedophile advocacy" platform and offered abusers tips to avoid detection.

According to police documents obtained under freedom of information laws, an Australian internet user stumbled on the website while reading about Britain's Jimmy Savile abuse scandal.

The internet user said the website had an "innocuous" looking internet address.

"I clicked into the main site to see who these people were and found an entire Wiki (a website developed collaboratively by users) of info designed to assist pedophiles in avoiding detection," the person wrote.

There have been around 16 pedophile "advocacy websites" - visible in Australia - investigated since 2008, including four in 2012 and six in 2009.

The AFP confirmed the website reported on October 30 originated overseas and referred the case to detectives in that country.

The AFP did not have the power to investigate the site itself.

It remains unclear if the website has been blocked, filtered or removed.

In October 2012 alone the ACMA said it received 305 complaints about online child sex abuse sites, including two "advocacy" sites.

"From the complaints investigated during October 2012, the ACMA located two separate items of overseas-hosted content found to promote, or provide instruction in, pedophile activity, in addition to 206 items of overseas-hosted content found to resolve to online child sexual abuse material," it said in a statement.

The AFP and the ACMA say they are entirely committed to fighting child sex abuse websites.

But child advocacy and protection groups have argued that far more can be done to restrict access.

Sydney-based Youth Off the Streets CEO Father Chris Riley says he'd like to see Australian authorities handed more power to completely block websites depicting child abuse.

"Absolutely they should be given powers to block overseas sites," he told AAP.

"Our most important duty as a nation is to keep our most vulnerable safe - that is our children."

Carolyn Worth from Victoria's Centre Against Sexual Assault forum said pedophiles are also increasingly using pictures gained from Facebook and other sites to create material.

"One of the things we know is that they (pedophiles) are harvesting, they're going through and taking out pictures of people who don't have adequate privacy settings," she told AAP.

"They actually create material from stuff that was posted innocently."